We’ve seen trading cards for everything from NASCAR to bakeries, so why not cartoonists? Trading cards were a huge fad in the ’90s, so it’s not surprising that most of the cartoon trading sets we’ve seen hail from that era.

But now, the current crop of superstars is getting its OWN trading card legacy, courtesy of the CBLDF and Cryptozoic Entertainment, called The Liberty Trading Cards. The set will spotlight the Fund’s exploits in defending the First Amendment and include sketch cards, chase cards and autographs, along with more than 70 of today’s top creators.

Previous comics sets are still seen here and there. Eclipse’s famous 1992 set showcased primitive Photoshop effects, padded shoulders and a shirtless Todd McFarlane.

Around the same time, Marvel’s business cards for editorial were done in trading card form — once in a while you still see Jim Salicrup waving one of these around.

We look forward to flipping and trading the Liberty Card Set for years to come.

Cryptozoic Entertainment and the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund have joined forces to protect creativity by collaborating on a new trading card set. The Liberty Trading Cards set tells the story of the fight to defend the First Amendment and includes chase cards from the greatest creators in comics and entertainment. The set will be released in July 2011, with proceeds from the sales benefiting the Fund.

“Cryptozoic is one of the most exciting new companies in pop culture, and we’re thrilled to work with them on this dynamic card project,” says CBLDF Executive Director Charles Brownstein. “Together we’ll be showing how the CBLDF has advanced Free Expression in comics and gathering one of the coolest collections of incentive cards ever assembled.”

The Liberty Trading Cards set will feature a base set of seventy cards representing the history of comics censorship, from the Seduction of the Innocent era in the 1950s to the modern day. In addition to the base set, special hand drawn sketches and autograph cards by some of the top talent in the comic book world will be featured in this release!

“The generous response from the creative community has been overwhelming,” said CBLDF Board President Larry Marder. “The most impressive gesture has been how many creators are briefly lending CBLDF their Intellectual Property for this project only. Creators letting us borrow their characters for these artists to sketch include Jeff Smith, Marc Silvestri, Erik Larsen, John Layman, Jim Valentino, Matt Wagner, Rob Liefeld, Stan Sakai, Eric Powell, Mike Richardson, and many others.”

Go to www.cbldf.org for a complete up-to-date list of all sketchers and signers.

“I can’t tell you how proud we are to partner with the CBLDF,” said Cory Jones, President of Cryptozoic Entertainment. “The Fund has been one of my favorite charities for years, and to be able to support it on this scale is incredible.”

The Comic Book Legal Defense fund is a nonprofit organization that was created in 1986 with a mission to protect the most basic right: freedom of speech. The organization exists to protect the First Amendment rights of the creators, retailers, publishers, and readers of comics.

Defend creativity and own a piece of comics history with the CBLDF Liberty Trading Cards, coming this July from Cryptozoic!

Heidi MacDonald is the founder and editor in chief of The Beat. In the past, she worked for Disney, DC Comics, Fox and Publishers Weekly. She can be heard regularly on the More To Come Podcast. She likes coffee, cats and noble struggle.

I will definitely by these. This is definitely innovative fundraising. CBLDF needs to get better about sending out renewals, tho. I’ve been a member since the beginning, but, like, off and on. Because I have to remember to renew myself. They don’t bug me at all. This seems like a key thing for them to get into.

Agreed re: CBLDF’s organizational consistency. But I’ll cut ’em some slack, because I know they’re working on it.
I hope they sell these as sets or by the pack. While bookeeping for small amounts is tedious, it’s easier to make small sales than big ones in general.
That said, I cherish my Eclipse trading card series (in it custom binder Eclipse made!). I will also be eager to get the new ones, an idea long overdue IMO!